The theoretical and methodological foundations of the Wagners law. Approaches to testing it

Mstislav Afanasyev and Yaroslav Afanas'ev

Public administration issues, 2009, issue 3, 47-70

Abstract: A new approach to understanding the classical conceptions of the public finance theory is closely connected with looking for ways out of the present world financial crisis. Scientific ideas of the outstanding German scientists A. Wagner (1835-1917) are of prior importance in this process. The Wagners law and his conception of fiscal economy can well become a means of knowing the current finance and economic processes. This article focuses on the nature of fiscal economy and its characteristic features. Wagners original view of the tax principles and taxation conditions is a constituent part of his fiscal economy conception. His discovering not only a fiscal but also a social function of taxation was a breakthrough in this field at his time and remains topical at present. To Wagner fairness levying taxes was of great importance in order to understand the principles of efficient taxation. After analyzing the methods and theoretical foundations of the formulation of the Wagners law we were able to discover the causes and essence of the law. This article besides the formulation of the Wagners law, deals with the experience of testing its first and second version on various statistics materials of different countries. Investigating the peculiar ways of reasoning and formulating the Wagners law, defining the approaches to test it on the empirical material gives an opportunity for further scientific research of the current problems in the public finances.

Date: 2009
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